Irish Rail says that economic recovery and rising employment rates have contributed to a higher number of rail journey in 2014.

Figures for 2014 rose across all services by nearly one million, to 37.6 million journeys. This compares with 36.7 million journeys in 2013.

29.3 million trips were made on DART and commuter services - while 8.4 million journeys were taken on the Intercity services.

The strongest growth was seen on Dublin to Galway routes, with an increase of 6.4% to 1.1 million journeys.

Dublin to Sligo also saw growth of 4.1% to 1.2 million journeys, while Dublin to Drogheda was the fastest growing commuter route in the greater Dublin area - up 3.4% to just under 6 million journeys.

But the largest growth on the network was on the Limerick to Galway route, which was up almost 75% from 29,000 to 50,000 journeys during the year through the new Ennis/Athenry section of the line.

Irish Rail says other factors in passenger growth include a strong growth in online bookings, and benefits from integration with other operators - including Leap Card.

Corporate communications manager with Irish Rail, Barry Kenny, said special events also contributed to higher journey numbers.